


The Confrontation of Susan

by Star_Fata



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Gen, The Problem of Susan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:08:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26662726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Fata/pseuds/Star_Fata
Summary: Written 2008. Susan's forgotten Narnia. Drabbles detailing the confrontations that result.
Relationships: Edmund Pevensie & Lucy Pevensie & Peter Pevensie & Susan Pevensie
Kudos: 14





	1. Edmund

Susan twirled her hair absentmindedly as she listened to Majore Redgrave's story. All of a sudden, Majore stopped talking, and the laughter stopped. Her friends' eyes were fixed just behind her.

She turned to see her younger brother, face set as cold as stone.

"Edmund!" She cried in surprise. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Susan." He greeted formally. "I need to speak with you."

Susan tossed her hair. "Can't it wait?" She asked, irritated. If this was about Narnia, she would kill Edmund! Honestly, her sibling's refusal to grow up would be the death of her.

Edmund's voice never wavered. "Don't worry, it won't take long."

Susan sighed in annoyance, but gestured to a chair. "Fine."

Edmund took the chair she had indicated, and sat down gracefully. Susan frowned. There was something about the way he was acting that was setting off alarm bells in her head.

"It's been a while since I've seen you Susan." Edmund observed neutrally.

Susan smiled to hide her nervousness. "Has it? I'm sorry Edmund, but I've been busy. There are a lot more mixers this time of year."

Edmund smiled back, this time reminding Susan of a handsome man with dark skin and hints of violence in his eyes. "Of course. So many parties, so little time, eh Susan?"

He laughed harshly. Susan's friends tittered nervously, not knowing what else to do but desperate to relieve the tension. Their attempt failed when Edmund's face changed, no longer the forced neutrality of before, but pure fury, as cold as ice and all the more devastating for it.

"Such a shame you couldn't make it to Peter's twenty first. He had two, one for his mates and one for the family." Edmund informed her. "Lucy was the joy of both parties, as always. Daniel Harding seemed quite taken with her. For the other party, Peter decided to get Lu to teach him how to bake a cake. I went along to act as the voice of sanity." His eyes softened deliberately. "Lion be praised that rationings over with. We were as white as the sand at Cair by the time Aunt Polly and the Professor arrived. Eustace and Jill couldn't stop laughing."

"Jill?" Susan queried, clinging to the unfamiliar word like a drowning man to a life belt. 

The look Edmund gave her could have turned her to stone. "Jill Pole. She goes to Experiment House with Eustace. She's been a Friend for three years now."

Susan could hear the capital letter in Friend, but could not (would not) comprehend. "Oh." She said, rather pathetically.

"That's all you have to say." Edmund shook his head in disgust. "I should have known." 

He stood to leave, and the Cafe lights made a silhouette of his figure. Susan was struck by a memory of that shadow with a crown and sword. How strange memory was! 

"Wait!" she called. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Edmund looked at her. "It was always going to be one of us who ran away from the family. Peter's too protective of us to even consider it, and Lucy's too faithful. You and I doubt more than they do. The only difference between us is that I made my mistake, and learned my lesson, whereas you refuse to admit there's a lesson to be learned."

He began to walk away, before pausing and turning back to the table. His voice was clear in the sudden silence of the cafe. 

"Susan, you are my sister and for that I love you, but I can remember a time when that was merely one reason, instead of your only redeeming quality."

Then he left for real, leaving a stunned table behind him.


	2. Lucy

Susan eyed Lucy thoughtfully. "That dress is hideous." She announced finally. It wasn't really. It was a classic sundress, sleeveless and with the slightest hint of a collar. The buttons were white and the dress itself was jewel blue, a colour which made Lucy's skin glow and her hair seem like spun gold.

Lucy tilted her head, causing her golden curls to fall out of place. "I like it." She said simply.

Susan felt a prickle of unease. Why wasn't Lucy smiling? "We'll get you a better one today." She said briskly.

Lucy shook her head. "I don't need any more clothes Sue."

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't buy some." Susan laughed. "Honestly Lucy, how do you expect to catch a man if you insist on dressing like an old maid?"

That hit a nerve. Lucy's eyes lit up with rage, a rage she'd seen once before in the eyes of a widow.

"I have many suitors sister. Not as many as you perhaps, but too many for my liking all the same." Lucy snapped.

Susan had the oddest feeling she would not be surprised if Lucy's eyes turned red, or if the air around her burst into flame.

"You could get even more suitors if you dressed better." Susan smiled nervously. Her smile faded as the rest of what Lucy had said registered.

"What do you mean, too many?" She demanded in shock.

Lucy tossed her head in the manner of an impatient, wilful mare. "I have no time for boys Susan." She replied heatedly. "Courtship was always your favourite pastime, not mine."

Susan ignored the hint at the child's game. "Lucy" You're young, beautiful. Enjoy it!" She ordered, distressed.

"I do." Lucy said coldly. "Without the restrictions of dating. If he does this, you do this, keep him waiting, wear this, say that..." Lucy shuddered. "It's all so boring, and pointlessly manipulating."

Susan scowled. She didn't appreciate being mocked, and opened her mouth to say so when Lucy's eyes met hers.

"And most importantly, it's not love." She said softly, so softly that Susan had to strain to hear her.

"You don't know what love is." Susan scoffed.

Lucy stared at her steadily. "Don't I?" She murmured. She smiled, so falsely that Susan wished she would go back to the unnatural calmness of before.

"Let's not try this again, Susan." Lucy spoke quietly. "We're more like strangers than sisters, and too different besides."

And, like Edmund before her, Lucy left without looking back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah- this was written when I was sixteen, so five years before I learnt the term "aromantic asexual".
> 
> I was defensive about myself, and as I'd gotten older found I hated shopping due to not liking tight fits, or necklines lower than my collarbone.


	3. Eustace and Jill

Susan smiled falsely at Aunt Alberta as she prattled on about the evils of drink. She would be furious if she realised how badly Susan wanted a Sugar Sweet cocktail right now. That was the kind of effect Alberta had on people though.

"Hello Susan, Mother." A voice greeted. "Sorry I'm late."

Susan turned to her cousin and her mouth nearly fell open in shock. Where was the sulky, bossy, know-it-all of her memories? The boy in front of her was almost fourteen now, but looked older. His dark hair was longer than was strictly fashionable, and his clothes were a little too casual for a family gathering, but he'd never fit in better with her siblings than he did now.

His face was tanned from days spent in the sunshine, and his eyes were bright with laughter. He had the same smile as Lucy, Susan realised surprised. Although thankfully without the inherent Lucy-ness which ensured complete and total devotion from any who saw it. Susan couldn't believe she'd never noticed it before, but then she remembered that she'd never seen him smile. Not really.

"Eustace!" Alberta scolded. "What an insult to our hosts."

Eustace turned his smile on her. "They didn't mind, seeing as I could hardly let Jill and Lucy get here on their own." He winked at Susan conspiratorially. "Between Jill's ability to get lost anywhere she can't see the stars, and Lucy's habit of not caring if she is lost so long as she's got good company, we wouldn't have seen them for another week at least!"

He yelped in pain as a brunette Susan didn't recognise punched him in the shoulder. "I heard that." She informed him, handing him a glass of lemonade. "Hello Alberta."

Alberta greeted her back stiffly, before excusing herself.

The girl rolled her eyes before extending a hand to Susan. "I'm Jill."

Susan shook her hand hesitantly. "I'm Susan. Nice to meet you Jill."

Jill, Jill, Jill. Where had she heard that name before? "So, how long have you and Eustace been together?" She asked brightly.

Eustace choked as he inhaled his lemonade by mistake, and Jill raised her eyebrows.

"We're best friends." She stated coolly.

Susan shrugged. "My mistake."

Jill surveyed her, making Susan want to squirm. "I can't believe you're the girl I've been hearing so much about." Jill mused.

Susan stiffened at these words. "All lies, I assure you." She tittered.

Jill nodded. "True. I was expecting a legendary Queen, not a girl like you."

Before Susan could respond, Jill had been swept away by Lucy. The two girls embraced fiercely, before beginning an animated conversation that made her remember times when Lucy would talk to her about anything and everything.

Eustace shuffled uncomfortably. "She's right you know. You're a shadow of yourself."

Before Susan could open her mouth to scold him for such childish nonsense, he was walking over to her brothers, leaving her quite alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I re-read LB and realized that Jill _did_ meet Susan before she forgot Narnia. That, however, was after I wrote this, and I will not be changing it. Sorry.


	4. Polly

"Hello Susan." A voice came from her bedroom doorway.

Susan started violently, before checking in her mirror to see Polly Plummer. "Aunt Polly, you scared me!"

Polly laughed. "You should pay more attention. You would have heard my bones creaking on the way up!"

Susan smiles as she paints on her lipstick. "You're not that old Aunt Polly."

"I'm old enough." The elder woman grinned. "One of the benefits of age is to know when someone is avoiding you."

"I haven't!" Susan denied.

"Yes you have." Polly said firmly. "The second one of us says something with the vaguest reference to Narnia, you practically run out the room."

Susan sighed, a world of suffering in her voice. "Narnia isn't real Aunt Polly. I do wish you wouldn't encourage them so."

Polly stared at her for a long time, and though Susan wanted to squirm under that harsh, judgemental gaze she just continued to apply rouge to her cheeks.

"You think you're very grown up, don't you?" Polly said finally.

Susan blinked at the non-sequitur.

"You have a great deal to learn my girl." Polly finished, and left without another world.

Susan sat frozen for a short time that seemed like a century, before shrugging it off as one of Polly's eccentricities, (as with a friend like the professor she was bound to have some,) and continuing to get ready, trying to ignore the churning in her stomach.


	5. Peter

"Hello Peter." Several of Susan's friends chorused.

Susan looked towards the doorway and sighed. There he was, a grimace on his face disguised as a smile. He was absolutely no good with female attention.

"What is it Peter?" Susan groaned. "Mum said I could have the parlour."

Peter's very fake smile vanished. "That's not it Sue." He said, quietly. "It's Lucy's birthday soon, and I was wondering if you wanted to get her present with me tomorrow."

"I've got her perfume. The latest from DiVonne." Susan snapped.

Peter blinked in surprise. "Lucy doesn't wear perfume unless it's a special occasion. Then she wears that flowery one that Ed got her last year."

"She should update her taste." Susan frowned. "That perfume was in fashion when Grandma was young."

"It's nothing to do with fashion, and everything to do with the fact she likes the smell." Peter shook his head. "Lion's mane, you really don't care, do you?"

Susan scrunched up her nose before remembering how childish it made her look. "What?"

He stared at her in disgust. "You're no friend of mine." He said finally, before storming off. Moments later, the front door slammed.

Susan realized with a start that her heart was racing. What had just happened?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short, but I got the idea that Peter would avoid a major confrontation until he lost his temper. I'm not going to do Professor Kirke's, because I think he would leave it well alone, and they wouldn't really spend that much time together since she's so 'grown-up'.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in 2008, I am aware it says a lot about who I was then that I so wholeheartedly bought into lipstick=bad, but I kind of linked 'The Problem of Susan' to Jane in Finding Neverland- you know, the Peter Pan sequel with Wendy's daughter trying to be really grown up and look after her family when she's ten or so?
> 
> I was 16 when I wrote it, and unlike many things up on my ffnet profile I'm not embarrassed to look back on it, so I brought it over here.


End file.
